A new proposal expected to be filed would
prohibit companies from suspending the
account of a political candidate and be subject
to a fine of $100,000 for each day the account of
a statewide candidate is blocked, or $10,000 a
day for other office seekers.
The proposal would also allow consumers to the
sue if they have been treated unfairly and would
authorize the state attorney general to take on
the country’s largest tech companies because
of anti-competitive practices. Social media
companies would be required to reveal how
they became aware of any content they censor.
Last year, Trump went after Twitter with an
executive order that would have limited
legal protections accorded to social media
companies. The president took the move after
the company began fact-checking his tweets.
If Florida lawmakers proceed with their
proposals, any resulting law is destined for the
courts, said Darrell West, the vice president of
governance studies at the Brookings Institution.
Federal law currently shields internet companies
from many legal challenges.
“We’re definitely at a boiling point. Most of
these issues have come up just in the last year,
as social media platforms have become more
aggressive about regulating their own space,”
West said.
“Facebook used to have a very libertarian stance,
where people could say pretty much whatever
they wanted on the site, and there was no risk
of deactivating the account,” he said. “In the last
year, with allegations of some people inciting
violence, that has led some of the platforms to
deactivate accounts.”